Definition: Life

Chapter 2: Angered

Warui-Usagi

x x x

'When you jump for joy, make sure no one moves the ground beneath your feet.'

--Stanislaw J. Lec

x x x

I quickly ran over the list again, slightly confused by some of the new items. "Why did we need balloons and streamers?" I asked Jared when Ian helped me up into the van. Andy was already carefully piling up our latest spoils into an unused corner, right next to the canned foods. The van sat idly in front of a small store just outside the suburbs near Tuscon.

Instead of Jared answering, it was Mel who turned around in her seat to look at me, her expression incredulous. "You didn't honestly think we wouldn't celebrate your birthday, did you, Wanda?"

It took me a moment to process that. I blinked, waiting for her to say it was a joke. She didn't.

"What?" I gasped, completely bewildered. "You don't have to do that! I-I'm not even human. Don't waste them on me. My birthday was two weeks ago! Save the decorations for Jamie's birthday—it's coming up soon, isn't it?" I was begging, trying desperately to distract them from this nonsensical idea. Surely they would realize there was no point—my birthday was two weeks ago! I'd never expected anything from anyone—it was a human tradition, and I would always be the exception to that rule. Besides, birthdays were never celebrated anywhere else but Earth. I'd gone thousands of Earth years without any kind of recognition for the day I was born…It was pointless to start now, especially because it wasn't my birthday—it was just the body I wore.

"Yes, it is…in about a month or so," Mel clarified, smiling fondly at the thought, but then her eyes narrowed on me. "That's irrelevant right now, though. We're celebrating your birthday today whether you like it or not, Wanda, so just deal with it. You are human to us—so you need to learn about human traditions. Having a birthday is one of them."

"But—"

"No buts," she snapped, turning back to face the road. I could see her smiling, though. She was pleased.

I frowned, and Ian squeezed my hand. "It'll be great," he promised me. "You'll get to have presents and everything."

It was a moment before I could say anything—I struggled to keep my voice even. "I don't think it's a good idea," I finally said. "What about the others back at caves? What about Sharon? And Maggie? This would just upset them. It's unnecessary."

"It's a brilliant idea," Melanie growled from the front seat. Jared chuckled. "And I couldn't care less about Sharon and Maggie. Not after the way they acted when Jamie was sick. Until they both apologise, I want nothing to do with either of them."

I gasped in the sudden, furious silence that followed. "But…but she's…they're your family, Mel!"

"And I couldn't be more ashamed of them at this point," she grumbled, turning to face me again with her eyes ablaze. "Anyonewho could still hate or doubt your intentions by now can't possibly be human, because being human requires at least some level of compassion. Those two, I have decided, are possibly the two most soulless humans left on the planet, no pun intended. It's a shame…Sharon never used to be that way."

"Home, then?" Jared asked, still smiling.

"Yes," Melanie and Ian agreed together.

I nodded absently, not really paying attention. My head was still reeling from the idea…The cake and decorations…I couldn't believe I didn't see it. I checked what remained of Pet's memories, and even there I could see why I never made the connection; Pet didn't know what a birthday party was at all. Souls acknowledged their human's hosts birthdays with little more than a greeting…and that was it. I only remembered what they were because of the time I'd spent in Melanie's body. Huh.

"You're not still freaking out about the whole birthday thing are you, Wanda?" Ian whispered, his fingers rubbing soothing patterns on the back of my palms.

"No," I said, but I'd answered too quickly.

My body didn't relax as his arms wrapped around me—I was too nervous. Couldn't they see how much trouble this was going to cause? People were just starting to get used to Sunny and I being in the colony. This was too risky; the whole idea was putting the peace they'd all worked so hard to build over the past month in jeopardy. I remembered what Jeb had said to me about boiling a frog in water and in context with the saying, I thought that this little stunt was turning the heat up too quickly.

"It'll be okay," Ian said, confident and still smiling as he pulled me into his lap. "Promise."

I shook my head in disagreement. I didn't believe him.

And just like it always was with humans, I couldn't tell if he was lying.

x x x

It was later, after I'd helped Trudy as much as I could with the rest of the unpacking, that things started to go downhill. It didn't take me long to figure out it was all staged. Trudy was always up for a casual chat anyway though, so I didn't catch on straight away. But when we'd been doing more talking than unloading…and Ian and the others didn't come back for another load…that was when I started to become suspicious. It was hard to concentrate on my suspicion; Trudy was throwing questions at me ruthlessly as we carried small loads to the storage caves. Everything from every, singe detail of the raid, to some other little details she wanted to know about some of the planets I'd visited. I was thoroughly distracted…and annoyed; I couldn't deny how grateful I was when we finally started to make our way back around to the common room. I tried to stop myself from running. The insatiable urge to see Jamie's face again was hard to beat down.

As I got closer and closer to the mess hall, the clearer it became that at least a couple of people were arguing. The hard, angry voices echoed loudly in the cave, and before I'd even stepped out into the room, I could tell distinctly who it was.

Ian and Sharon.

I frowned, irritated with Mel and Ian for not listening to me when I'd tried to explain what a problem this would be for her. But there was something I didn't understand—Sharon had backed right off since I'd been inserted into this new body. Surely she knew by now that, no matter how much she hated me, that I would never put anyone in this little family in danger. Even if she didn't believe my intentions, she had to seethat I was no longer physically capable of doing any damage to anything. Surely…

"…And while you're at it, why don't you just go out and thank those disgusting little silver worms for invading our planet!" Sharon was shouting. The anger in her voice had me visibly cringing against the cave wall.

"Here we go," Trudy sighed, aggravated. She patted my shoulder. "Should have known she'd start something…"

"Back off, Sharon," Ian growled, "I mean it. Or so help me God I'll…"

"You'll what?" she challenged, on the verge of screaming now. I didn't understand…why was nobody stopping this? Where were Jamie, Jared and Melanie? Doc and Jeb? I ran out into the room, and looked around for Ian. He was standing in the middle of the mess hall, amongst the tables and benches, not two feet away from Sharon. His huge hands were clenched tightly into fists at his side and even from here, halfway across the room, I could see the veins standing out on his neck. I swallowed hard; I hadn't seen him this angry since before I'd tried to leave.

"I can't believe you! All of you! It's bad enough tha-that…thing is living here! Worse, there's two of them now!" she screeched, "and so now you want to go and throw it a birthday—"

Sharon cut off her rant abruptly when she saw me standing there behind them. She turned her venomous glare on me and I cringed away, terrified. Her entire face and neck was blazing with her anger—the same colour as her fiery hair. Her whole body was practically shaking with her rage.

Ian turned to see what had her tongue tied, and the instant his eyes fell on me, his expression looked as horrified as I felt. "Wanda!"

Forgetting that he was arguing with her at all, he almost ran to my side, looming over me protectively. Ian's hand came up, seemingly without him having to think about it, his fingers brushing lightly across my cheek. I turned my face into his touch. "Sorry you had to see that," he apologised, his voice sad. "I know how much you hate it."

"It's not your fault, Ian," I told him, slowly shaking my head. The movement had my lips brushing back and forth against the rough skin of his palm. He knew me so well…

He snorted, dismissive. "I know that. I also know whose fault it is," he growled underneath his breath.

"At least I'm not the one who's fallen in love with a disgusting little worm," Sharon spat over his shoulder. "Attraction to slimy little parasites run in the family, does it?" I jumped, startled by how close she was all of a sudden.

Ian's whole body tensed, his jaw slamming shut with an audible snap. He rose up back to his full height slowly, trying hard—and failing miserably—to control his breathing. I recognised that look immediately; my eyes bulged.

"No, Ian!" I called out, running around to stand in-between him and Sharon. I reached for one of his massive hands with both of mine, desperately trying to get his attention.

His eyes flashed down to mine, furious. "It's okay," I reassured him. "She's allowed to be angry at me"—I smiled half-heartedly; sort of teasing but not really—"I'm the intruder, after all. Remember?"

Ian shot me an irritated look and was about to protest, I could tell, but Sharon beat him to it.

"Damn right you are!" she suddenly roared, the caves echoing loudly with her anger. The blue flames in Ian's eyes roared to life again from the flicker of light they'd been just moment's ago. "So why don't you take your own advice and—"

A loud, painful slap reverberated through the room. I heard Sharon fall to the ground and I cringed into Ian's shirt, horrified. I couldn't believe he'd hit her.

"Get out of here," a voice demanded—not Ian, which surprised me. I knew that voice—it was…it used to be mine. I turned to peek out of the corner of my eye, and sure enough my sight confirmed it—she glared balefully at Sharon who was still kneeling on the dusty floor, her right hand resting on her cheek in shock.

Melanie. Mel…

But Sharon wasn't finished yet.

"How can you stand there and defend it when it took your body! Your body, Mel! And then you go out and get it a new body when Doc takes it out—some other poor girl who has to suffer with that worm inside its head! What's wrong with you? Why didn't you kill it when you had the chance?!"

Ian's hand drew my face into his chest almost roughly this time, and I winced when I heard another painful smack. I thought Melanie was overdoing it.

"Because I love her, Sharon," Mel said rather quietly, almost complacently. Her words didn't match her actions, though. "She's the most compassionate, selfless, wonderful person I know—the closest thing to a sister I have. Her taking my body wasn't her fault, that's just how her species live…how Wanda haslived for thousands of years. We humans aren't much different, you know. How many people of other races…how many different species of animals have we eradicated in the name of how we live? If we blame them, we're just being hypocrites. But that's irrelevant right now"—her voice changed again, became harder. Angrier—"What's relevant now is that Wanda is here, we love her, we care about her…we need her, and if you can't deal with that, then you know the rule."

Melanie glared at Sharon meaningfully, who was still frozen in disbelief. I was torn in two; part of me was balking because I couldn't stand the thought of Sharon leaving—what would Doc and Maggie do without her?—and the other half of me was almost crying for joy about what Mel had said: that she'd shown both me and my species such respect…that she really seemed to care about me that much…I couldn't believe it. I was touched. I could feel the tears in my eyes.

Sharon got up without a word, dusting her clothes off, and not looking at anybody. "I loved you, too, y'know," Melanie added, subdued. "The girl I grew up with and spent all my spare time playing dress-up with when we were younger. I was looking for you—that's how I got caught. You must know that by now. But I'm starting to think it was a wasted effort if this is what you've turned into. I don't expect you to understand Wanda's relationship with me—nobody really does. It's…very complicated. I don't even expect you to like her. But you do have to respect her position in this community. She works very hard—"

"Respect?" Sharon spat right back at her cousin, "she does hardly anything! We have to do everything for her—"

"Then leave if you don't like it!" Mel interrupted vehemently, looming over Sharon, staring her down.

I felt the tears spring into my eyes, and turned back into Ian's side, wiping them on the edge of his shirt. I couldn't stand being the centre of so much discord here. I didn't want Sharon or Maggie to hate me, but I was starting to see that was an impossibility; the idea seemed too repugnant for them to handle. They'd both been so quiet this whole time that I thought perhaps they were beginning to accept me as part of this family. I could see now I was wrong I really was.

Ian noticed my crying—excitement and shyness weren't the only emotions that got out of hand in this body. Fear and sadness—experienced so little by Pet in her simple, naïve world—were always almost over the top, engulfing. It wasn't long before I was almost sobbing; I bit down hard on my lip to keep from making a sound, but Ian was quicker. His hands were around my waist and pulling my tiny body up into his arms before I even knew what was happening. I could still hear Sharon and Melanie arguing in the background.

"C'mon. Let's get you out of here," Ian whispered, moving his lips over my wet eyelashes. "Don't cry, honey."

He started walking away without looking back at either of the girls, and I curled more willingly against his chest as soon as we were out in the corridor, the tears flowing freely down my cheeks.

"Some birthday party," Ian grumbled, suddenly livid. "I swear if Sharon comes anywhere near the common room tonight, I'll have her head."

"I shook my head feebly, trying to wipe away the tears with my small hands. "Don't," I whispered, hiccupping despite my best efforts to prevent it. "It's not Sharon's f-fault. I told you…I told you this would upset people."

"They have to get over it…or answer to us, Wanda. You're one of us now, and nothing they say or do can change that."

Ian was strolling through the plaza now, his arms cradling me loosely against his chest; my body swayed along with the motion of his. People were going about their daily chores as usual, watching me and Ian with a speculative expression that I'd never seen before. Some of them were even angry, but I could tell the anger wasn't directed at me like it used to be. Candy saw us as she was walking by, and she smiled ruefully at me, stopping briefly to squeeze my hand in reassurance before she walked back down the corridor to the hospital, I assumed.

I saw Jeb working with Andy, Brandt, Heidi and Violetta in the fields—he looked really tired. Like he needed help.

"Put me down, Ian." I croaked, sniffing. "It's okay—I'll be fine."

Ian looked down at me, followed my gaze and sighed, exasperated. "Wanda, those tools are too heavy for you. You know that you can't—"

"I'm going to help anyway I can," I told him, interrupting his lecture. I squirmed in his arms until he reluctantly set me down on my feet. I ran over and through the fields as quickly as I could, my small, weak frame struggling with the effort of the exercise. By the time I reached Jeb, I was heaving for breath. Ian had kept pace with me easily.

At least Jeb was happy to see me. "Hiya, Wanda! Happy Birthday, sweetie."

I smiled a little, reminding myself that he obviously had no idea about Mel's fight with Sharon yet. "Thanks," I mumbled, examining his dirty face carefully. "You need any help here?"

"Not really, but some water would be great. Sharon was our runner and she seems to have disappeared for the moment."

I cringed involuntarily, and of course Jeb noticed; his eyes widened in recognition. It was only then that he seemed to notice my puffy red eyes and tear-stained face. "Oh," he mouthed, putting two together. It didn't take long for the realization to faze into anger, though. "I swear if that girl doesn't start watching the rules, I'll turn her out on her ass so quick she won't know what's happened," he growled, throwing his hoe to the ground at his feet with more force than necessary and storming off in the direction Ian and I had come from.

"Magnolia! Sharon!" Jeb bellowed, his angry voice echoing sharply off the cavern walls as he disappeared down the passageway.

"Good riddance," Ian muttered under his breath as he watched Jeb leave, and then his eyes were on me again. "I'm going to go and fetch these guys some water. Stay here, okay? I mean it this time, Wanda. Don't make me hunt you down."

"Okay," I agreed easily. It had only just occurred to me then how upset Ian was for my sake. "I won't go anywhere."

"Good." And with that, he started running back towards the mess hall. It was quite for a moment after that, and then Violetta giggled.

"A little overprotective, isn't he?" she said, winking at me. I felt my face flush and looked away. "Though I suppose your new body isn't doing you any favours in that department. Honestly, I don't think Jamie could have picked a more helpless looking girl. I have to admit that when I saw you running over here with Ian before, I just wanted to give you a big hug."

"I know," I murmured, surprised at how much she seemed to like me. "I hate feeling so useless. The only thing I'm good for is raids, now."

"I think he's being incredibly sweet," Heidi objected. Her hands absently reaching out to play with my hair as she spoke. "He really does care about you a lot, Wanda and it's so adorable to watch." Heidi laughed along with Violetta this time and the boys, realizing they were out of their depth, walked away grumbling incoherently under their breath about 'females' and 'carrying on'. I didn't really understand. "Besides," she continued, watching me with a disapproving expression, "you really need to lay off on the work, anyway."

"Wanda!" I turned automatically at the sound of my name, wary to see Melanie and Jamie approaching me with huge smiles on their faces. Nothing about their expressions was even remotely sincere.

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion as they approached me. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Jamie said happily, but it felt too put on, even for him. "We just wanted to come and talk with you for a bit."

I scoffed. "I might be a terrible liar, and even a little gullible, but you can't expect me to believe that." My eyes shifted quickly between their faces, watching as their smiles disappeared. "You never want to just chat, Mel," I accused her.

"That's not true!" she said incredulously, her lips pressing into a fierce and stubborn frown. She glared at me for a long minute. "Fine. You want the truth, then I'll tell you the truth," she grumbled, crossing her arms defiantly.

Jamie gasped. "You can't do that, Mel! The whole thing will be pointless then!"

"What's pointless?"

"Nothing," Jamie said to me again quickly, turning his back on me to face his sister. "Mel, don't you dare ruin the surprise!"

"Surprise?" I asked, my voice going flat. It took a moment before the horrible truth dawned on me. My eyes widened in disbelief. "You aren't still going ahead with the party, are you? After what just happened…are you crazy?" My voice cracked as it shot up a few octaves. Violetta came up behind me to place a comforting hand on my shoulder. I ignored it. "You were there, Melanie! You saw how she reacted!"

"Calm down, Wanda," she sighed, evidently put out. "Stop being so difficult. We want to do this for you. And Sharon Maggie won't bother us—they're well out of everyone's way."

"That's not the point!"

"Wanda…" Jamie complained, coming right up to me and taking both of my hands. "You have to be there. I worked really hard to get everything ready before, and I got you a present and everything."

My anger faded considerably at this. I couldn't bring myself to object to anything when Jamie was upset or wanted something. I would do anything…give himanything he asked me to.

And he knew it.

I watched him for a moment, my eyes searching his wonderfully sweet face. "Okay," I agreed grudgingly, squeezing his hands. "I'll come."

"Yay! I win!" Jamie exclaimed, unabashed. I sighed.

"What's happening here?" Ian called in a loud voice, coming up behind me. He took one look at my face and slipped his hand underneath the cloud of my hair and started massaging the back of my neck again. I relaxed immediately, as he knew I probably would.

I kept my eyes trained on Jamie's face, fighting the drooping of my lashes. I watched as his eyes darted up above my head—presumably to Ian, whom I was now lightly leaning up against—and smiled. "You ready?"

"Yep," came his response, and I stifled a groan. I really hoped this worked out.

Ian's hand slipped away from its position on my neck, along my shoulders and down my arm and grabbed my hand.

"C'mon." Ian started tugging lightly, trying to get me to follow.

He didn't say anything; only raised a challenging eyebrow. I knew that there was no point fighting it—he had no problem carrying me. In fact, I was pretty sure he'd enjoy carrying me into a room with my tiny little body drooped over his shoulder…

"Nothing will happen," he said happily, though I could not relax.

I didn't say anything. I was tired of trying to prove him wrong.

I simply obeyed, allowing him to lead me down through the dark tunnels. Though I could not see, I knew we were about to walk out into the plaza. Jamie and Mel followed behind us quietly. Jamie's excitement over the whole event was a palpable thing; he twitched and fidgeted the whole way, impatient with our pace. Melanie shushed him a few times, but he never calmed down. I smiled in the darkness.

The massive cavern that was the plaza came into view just as we rounded the corner. The moon must have been high in the sky outside. Bright beams of moonlight broke through the cracks in the ceiling, casting the purple walls and floor of the cave in such an odd, silvery colour that for a second, the massive cave that had been my home for so long were completely unfamiliar.

I didn't realize it until my eyes has adjusted, but there was something there in the middle of the room—a long, rectangular object…a table, I noticed a minute later. And there was a lot on the table; I couldn't make out the strange shapes in the moonlight, the shadows crept along the dusty ground and up the walls…

"SURPRISE!"

I swore that I'd just jumped out of my skin.

I screamed.

A/N: Sorry that it's taken me so long to get this chapter up guys. I just haven't felt like being on my computer much in my spare time lately, because I spend 40+ hours a week working on it. :S Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. Chapter 2 & 3 were actually the same chapter, but I thought 9000 words might have been a bit too much for some people's poor eyes. I have Chapter 3: Celebrated all ready to go, though. :) It'll be up some time before the weekend is through, I promise! It's going to be pretty fluffy! ;)

Sorry if you thought I was torturing poor Wanda, too. But Petal Open to the Moon was probably the most naïve soul on the planet…at least when it comes to human "traditions" (I don't really know if you'd call them "traditions" or "clichés"—a surprise party seems pretty cliché, don't you think?) Pfft. Whatever.

Hope you're all liking the story so far. Feedback—both positive and negative—is much appreciated.

Thanks a bunch!

Warui-Usagi